During the time young Samuel was minister to the LORD under Eli, a revelation of the LORD was uncommon and vision infrequent. One day Eli was asleep in his usual place. His eyes had lately grown so weak that he could not see. The lamp of God was not yet extinguished, and Samuel was sleeping in the temple of the LORD where the ark of God was. The LORD called to Samuel, who answered, "Here I am." He ran to Eli and said, "Here I am. You called me." "I did not call you," Eli said. "Go back to sleep." So he went back to sleep. Again the LORD called Samuel, who rose and went to Eli. "Here I am," he said. "You called me." But he answered, "I did not call you, my son. Go back to sleep."
At that time Samuel was not familiar with the LORD, because the LORD had not revealed anything to him as yet. The LORD called Samuel again, for the third time. Getting up and going to Eli, he said, "Here I am. You called me." Then Eli understood that the LORD was calling the youth. So he said to Samuel, "Go to sleep, and if you are called, reply, 'Speak, LORD, for your servant is listening.'" When Samuel went to sleep in his place, the LORD came and revealed his presence, calling out as before, "Samuel, Samuel!" Samuel answered, "Speak, for your servant is listening."
Samuel grew up, and the LORD was with him, not permitting any word of his to be without effect. Thus all Israel from Dan to Beer-sheba came to know that Samuel was an accredited prophet of the LORD. (1Samuel 3:1-10,19-20)
As this passage begins, the boy Samuel is living at the Israelite sanctuary at Shiloh and helping Eli, the priest, minister to the Lord. Samuel's mother, Hannah, had made good on her vow to God that if she bore a son she would dedicate him to the Lord's service. Now, we read how God called Samuel into an even deeper service than he or his mother had imagined. Each tme the Lord called him, he said, "Here I am." Counseled by Eli-a man filled with the wisdom of his years-Samuel then responded simply, "Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening."
Eli's words to Samuel are wisdom for us as well. When we begin our spiritual life, most of us are in awe over the fact that we can speak to the Lord and know that he hears and answers our prayers. It's a blessing to rush to him and tell him of our needs, fears, and problems, as well as our gratitude and joy. When we first discover this, we tend to do a lot of talking and asking. And this is OK. The Lord loves when we come to him and speak to him or intercede for others. But if this is all we do in our prayers, then, in effect, we are saying, "Listen, Lord, your servant is speaking."
However, as we grow in our prayer life, we gradually come to a point where we spend less time speaking and more time listening. We let God set the agenda. We trust that he knows our needs, so we don't keep telling him about them. Instead, we find joy simply from being in his presence; we feel awe and begin to worship him for who he is. We savor his words and ponder them in the depth of our hearts. We allow him to change us rather than try to get him to change our circumstances.
Try it. Experiment with listening. Say to Jesus before you pray, read Scripture, or listen to a homily: "Here I am. Speak Lord, your servant is listening.". For your prayer and Scripture reading, choose a quiet place where you can calm your mind and spirit. Afterwards, record in a journal what you have heard. Decide how to act on the words God gives you.
Remember, Jesus and God the Father long to speak to us. They are only waiting for us to quiet down enough to listen.
"Lord, I will be still before you and wait patiently to hear your call. Speak your words of truth to me, so that I may know you, serve you, and bear fruit for the kingdom of God."
[Many thanks to The Word Among Us (http://www.wau.org/) for allowing us to adapt material from daily meditations in their monthly devotional magazine. Used with permission.]
NOTE FOM THE NATIONAL FELLOWSHIP OF CATHOLIC MEN: The NFCM and the Catholic Men's Fellowship of Pittsburgh (CMFPitt) have joined forces to provide Catholic men with a 10 minute weekly podcast reflection on the upcoming Sunday's Mass readings. This podcast is automatically available to all men who register on the NFCM website. If you haven't registered yet on the NFCM website, take a few minutes to do so by clicking here. Upon registering, you will automatically receive on a weekly basis the podcasts from clergy, who are gifted men of God and know how to speak to men. We encourage you to listen each week..
"Here I am Lord" is the Responsorial for this past Sunday's Mass on January 20th. Fr. Philip Merdinger, Chaplain for the National Fellowship of Catholic Men, has an uplifting — and challenging — reflection on "Here I Am Lord" for the 10 minute Podcast .You can easily access this particular Podcast at http://www.cmfpitt.org/ (hit the "Podcast" tab & click on the January 20th blue line).
These weekly Podcasts will help you reflect even more deeply on each Sunday's message at Mass! I hope they will inspire you as well! Please pass this along to any man that you feel would benefit by knowing about our Podcasts.
Questions for Reflection/Discussion by Catholic Men
1. How would you characterize your times of prayer? Is it "Here I am. Speak Lord, your servant is listening" or "Here I am. Listen, Lord, your servant is speaking".Why?
2. What steps can we take to "spend less time speaking and more time listening" when we pray?
3. What steps can we as men take to allow the Lord "to change us rather than try to get him to change our circumstances"?
